48 Anniversary Meeting. [Nov. 30, 



led to the wonderful conclusion that it does not combine with any other 

 chemical substance which has hitherto been presented to it. We all 

 wait with impatience for further results of the work ; we wish success 

 to it, and we hope 'that it will give us, before the next anniversary 

 meeting of the Royal Society, much knowledge of the properties, both 

 physical and chemical, of the hitherto unknown and still anonymous 

 fifth constituent of our atmosphere. 



COPLEY MEDAL. 

 Dr. Edward Frankland, D.C.L., F.E.S. 



The Copley Medal is awarded to Dr. E. Frankland for his eminent 

 services to theoretical and applied chemistry. 



At a time when the classification of organic compounds in homolo- 

 gous series was a comparative novelty, when isomerism was still a 

 profound mystery, and the theory of compound radicles introduced 

 by Liebig was still on its trial, Dr. Frankland made his first attempt 

 (in 1843) to isolate the radicle of common alcohol. Though the 

 attempt was in one sense unsuccessful, inasmuch as the free radicle 

 was never obtained, for reasons which we now more fully understand, 

 the research led to important consequences. The discovery of the 

 orgauo-metallic compounds, and the study of their composition and 

 properties, was followed by a recognition of the fact, first that the 

 capacity for combination possessed by the atoms of the metals was 

 limited ('Phil. Trans.,' 1852), and secondly that variation of "atom- 

 icity," as it was then called, usually occurs by an even number of 

 units (' Journ. Chem. Soc.,' 1866), represented by atoms of hydrogen, 

 chlorine, or such compound radicles as methyl, ethyl, and the rest. 

 These discoveries form the basis of the modern doctrine of valency, 

 with all the important consequences that follow, including the idea of 

 the ord rly linking of atoms, and hence the theories of structure or 

 constitution now current. 



The discovery of zinc ethyl placed in the hands of chemists an 

 important new instrument of research, which Dr. Frankland was 

 himself the first to use in his investigations concerning the syntheti- 

 cal production of acids of the lactic and acrylic series. Further 

 important synthetical work, conducted in concert with Mr. Duppa, 

 led to a method of ascending the series of acids homologous with 

 acetic acid. 



Dr. Frankland's researches in pure chemistry are almost rivalled 

 in interest by his discoveries in physical chemistry, especially in 

 relation to the influence of pressure en the rate of combustion, on the 

 light emitted during combustion, and on the cause of luminosity in 

 hydrocarbon flames. 



The important work done by Dr. Frankland in the study of water- 



